Minidisc question

Don't ask me why but I bought a minidisc recorder (sony mz n1) off eBay and a couple of blank disks. Sounds silly but how do I record music on to the minidisc. Preferably I want to attack it to my laptop but that does not have an optical connection. What cables do I need. Is it the case of 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable (laptop headphone socket to minidisc) play music on computer and hit record on minidisc? Any advice would be awesome.

 

Maybe this will help.


http://minidisc.org/manuals/sony/sony_mzn1_manual.pdf

 

Ahhh takes me back...great times.

 

Thanks. I think I'm trying to recapture the feeling like when I used a walkman about 15 years ago

 

When I had a MD recorder, I upgraded soon after with a standalone CD recorder. It was a straight-forward digital dub to CD-R via optical connections, and I ripped the finalised disc to my PC. If you can find one cheap, it'd be a simple way to do it.

 

I watched the Techmoan chapter on minidisks and it was one of the more interesting chapters in AV history. Please tell us how's the experiment is going and if there is anything more beside nostalgia.

 

Gary, if your minidisk recorder has digital input,
Then you need a usb to digital audio converter. You should be able to find one that isnt too expensive.

 

What out looking stupid, what does that do?

 

Hi Gary. Hey, Never a stupid question when it comes to Audio!! )

Ok, so, if your minidisk has a digital interface, first you want to see if its Coaxial (looks like an regular RCA plug) or Optical (looks like a tiny square, may be red).

Then, once you know that, you would buy a Laptop accessory, a USB audio to Digital converter that has the same Digital interface (Coaxial or optical) that your Minidisk player has. You also need a digital cable to go in between the USB converter and the Minidisk recorder. Amazon has them, I'm sure.

Heres what it does:

You plug the USB converter into your laptop, and you connect the Digital Output to the minidisk player via the digital cable. Then, when you are playing back a song on your laptop, it will be recorded Digitally into your Minidisk Recorder.

Note: You *may* have to set the Minidisk player to record "Digitally" in the setup options. So, you'll have to play around with things for a bit, but you should eventually be able to get it to work.

Of course, you could always just go the Analog route, which might be easier for you.

Comprendo, Fredo?

 

You have three options:

1. Analogue input, that is connect it to the tape out of an existing stereo amplifier, or failing that the analogue (headphone) output of your laptop using a 3,5mm cable. This is the most pedestrian mode, that allows digitisation of "anything".

2. Digital input in SP/DIF format using an optical "TOSLINK" cable connected to a player that has a matching output, e.g. many CD players and also some USB soundcards do. This is a more advanced mode keeping everything in the digital domain, using a non-propietary digital interface.

3. Digitally with the player sitting in its cradle connected to the laptop using an USB cable, and a software you need to install to do this. This method is very fast, but propietary and has some limitations, see MiniDisc - Wikipedia . It is probably also the most hassle to get going, but when it does the most conventient.

All methods apply ATRAC compression. Methods #2 and #3, even though digital, will not copy the digital data unchanged, but the device will decode what it gets, apply its own ATRAC compression, and save the result of that.

I'm going by this page: MD Community Page: Sony MZ-N1 which has some additional information and a download link for the software you need for method #3.

 

I hear these often have pretty good ADCs.

 

You'll need one of these -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FosPower-T...d=1505083945&sr=8-1&keywords=toslink+to+3.5mm

Plug one end into the back of a desktop PC or decent CD/DVD player with a Toslink out and then thin end into the headphone socket of the minidisc. Pop in a blank minidisc, hit sync-rec or whatever and hit play on the CD player.

Sit back for 45-60 mins like we did in the old days. Think "F*** this for a lark!" and get a MP3 player instead.

 

You can get a cable with the adapter or just the adapter and plug one end of an optical toslink. You will definitely need the optical adapter, because the MZ-N1 has an optical in for recording, but you have to plug one end the optical cable into the adapter before plugging it into the recorder. Any source with an optical digital out will work to record from.

 

I have a super nice Japanese TEAC MD player that was in the 'Give Away' on my local CList.

Came with @100 pre-recorded Mini Discs and 1/2 dozen blanks. Needs to go in for a quick clean and service, but it is a great (if goofy) unit.

 

Hi, so I need some advice. I am making a short film and will be filming at a concert. I want to capture the audio of the performance off the mixing console for later editing. My options are use my sony digital voice recorder. i think all i need is a 1/2" to 3/4" cable. or I can use a digital minidisk player this guy i know can lend to me. i am not familiar with portal minidisk players. do i just use a 3/4" to 1/2" cable? looks like i cant transfer and convert the data from the minidisk player like i can from the voice recorder. so i just plug that minidisk player into my home studio and press play on mini disk and record on my DAW? is the audio on the minidisk going to be better than the DVR?

 

Whatever you do, make sure you allow enough time to test it out - run it out of the board, play it back, make sure everything's working as it should.

 

Which model Sony Voice Recorder? I have a few PX820s. I can tell you these do not sync to video, directly. And I assume that any others in this PX series also won't sync. Their sampling speed is off for syncing to video, and all video recorders have exactly correct audio sampling speeds - they must. You can stretch the Sony audio in Audacity or other, but that will be manual and hit and miss but you can do it. I do have some tips if you need to use one of these PX models, as it can make high quality stereo recordings, even if it seems to be a mono unit!, with special handling.

If your Sony digital recorder is different than a PX, I suggest you make a test video and recording on your recorder, for an hour at least, and check whether that audio recording will stay in sync correctly for the full hour. If not, you can stretch it, but you can start to be prepared. Just point both at a TV and record for an hour at least and try to sync their recordings.

Some but not all MiniDisc portables have analog Line In as a stereo 3.5mm jack. Check on minidisc.org for the features and possibly the manual for any MiniDisc unit. Find out what output connections the board has. It likely has standard RCA outs just for recording, along with other types - but be sure. The audio on Minidisc at the highest "speed" SP is ATRAC compressed, about equivalent to MP3 at 292kbps, and otherwise follows standard CD specifications as well as it can for being a MiniDisc. That is good enough for a live concert. It will sync to video perfectly. I don't know what video camera you have - but the audio of consumer video cameras won't be audibly better than MiniDisc and could be worse.

 

Thanks for the tips. I will check the model and get back. The sync is not that important to me as the quality. I am more worried about the ambient noise in the concert thats why i want to get the feed from the mixing console. Its not a film as a document about the band or their performance. The film is more a document on the fans and what they are as a community. So there will be lots of cuts back and forth between the audience and stage performance. Probably more shots of the audience than the band.

 

minidisc mz-n510

 

MD Community Page: Sony MZ-N510

The manual can be downloaded from that page. It does have Line In. You're good! Read through that manual and get familiar with it. MiniDisc recorders are quirky. Use an absolutely fresh battery for recording, and preferably one of these "Max" type alkalines, or an AA Lithium if you can find them. You can use standard headphones with a 3.5mm plug if you don't have the original headphone, which had a volume control and stop/pause/play/record function on the cord. I am not familiar with this exact unit, but I know the general idea of these.

 

I am wondering if this thing is going to make that much of an improvement audio wise over my dinky sony icd-sx25. at least with that thing i can grab and convert to wav. i am not make a dvd of the band live. i just want to get the music with as little ambient noise as possible.

 

I just looked at the icd-sx25 specs. It's 32mb? MEGAbyte? That has to be recording at a very low bitrate.
The MiniDisc will be much better. It will be virtually CD quality.

 

Thanks for the link! That minidisc documentary was brilliant. I still have five working models.